Chapter 5 - Chain of Custody
The front doors parted once more. Four paramedics dressed in unmarked black tactical medical gear entered the foyer carrying a carbon-fiber stretcher and emergency trauma kits.
They did not ask questions. They moved with military precision.
"Vitals are stable, sir," the lead paramedic reported directly to Marcus, bypassing the Caldwells completely. "Right clavicle fracture suspected. Blunt force trauma to the lower thoracic cage. We have a private surgical suite prepped at St. Jude’s Pavilion."
"Handle her gently," Marcus ordered, his voice softening only when looking down at me.
"Yes, Mr. Bennett."
As they lifted me onto the gurney, the pain flared sharply, making me gasp. Ethan, still coughing on his knees, looked up with wild, venomous eyes.
"You can't take her!" Ethan wheezed. "She's my wife! I haven't consented to her removal! That's interference with a legal spouse!"
Marcus ignored him entirely. He reached out and gently unfastened the platinum locket from my neck.
"Is the file intact, Grace?" he asked.
"Every second," I whispered through the oxygen mask the medics had placed over my mouth. "Since six o'clock this evening."
Margaret’s eyes widened in horror. "What file? What was that around your neck?"
Marcus opened the back of the locket with his thumbnail, popping out a tiny micro-transceiver chip. He handed it to the second security guard.
"Upload it directly to the Special Investigations Division of the State Attorney’s Office," Marcus commanded. "Copy the Commissioner of Financial Crimes, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and our chief legal counsel. Flag it: Attempted murder, corporate extortion, and felony assault."
"Understood, Mr. Bennett," the guard said, snapping the chip into an encrypted tablet.
Ethan scrambled to his feet, terror finally piercing through his delusion. "You recorded us? In my own house? That's illegal wiretapping! It’s inadmissible!"
"This state is a one-party consent jurisdiction, Ethan," Marcus replied, his voice dripping with icy contempt. "And Grace was a party to the conversation. Every threat you made about Seacliff Point, every admission about your debt, and the sound of your shoes before you shoved her down these stairs—it is all registered in high-definition audio."
"You b*tch!" Ethan lunged toward my stretcher.
Before he could take two steps, the first security guard stepped into his path, catching Ethan by the lapels, twisting him effortlessly, and driving his face straight into the marble floor. Ethan screamed as his nose cracked against the polished stone, blood spraying across his pristine white shirt.
"Stay down," the guard murmured calmly.
Margaret backed away toward the fireplace, trembling, clutching her pearls with white-knuckled desperation. "Who are you? Marcus Bennett... who the hell are you?"
Marcus walked over to the front door, pausing on the threshold as the paramedics wheeled me out into the cool midnight air.
May you like
"My daughter married down," Marcus said, looking back over his shoulder. "She thought she could live a simple life away from the empire I built. She wanted love, not power. But since you couldn't appreciate her simplicity, Margaret... you will now have to deal with my complexity."
***
